Rovio Founders Sold Shares in $42 Million Round

By Anna Leach

The founders of gaming powerhouse Rovio Entertainment Oy used money raised in an investment round in 2011 to sell shares, it has emerged Friday.

CEO Mikael Hed revealed that he and fellow founders sold “part of their share of the company” in an interview with Finnish magazine Talouselämä, published Friday in English. The $42 million round came from Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures amongst others.

At the time it wasn’t clear where the cash from the series A round had gone, with news site Arctic Startup spotting that it hadn’t showed up in the company’s yearly accounts. Mr. Hed told the weekly business magazine:

“All owners sold some part of their share. We did not need funding for growth…

Typically startups are sold very early and that is the end of it. We had many hard years behind us and at one point Rovio was close to bankruptcy. When we were in a situation where the company was growing rapidly but there was no guarantee about the future, there was a temptation to sell – and there were many who were interested to buy.

It was important to release the pressure by selling part of the company with a good valuation. Because of this investment we could continue the long term development of the company. Otherwise we would have sold Rovio for sure.

We never said it was an investment for Rovio, we tried to be clear in our message.

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